Transcript America’s Immigration History

America’s Immigration History
The Great Migration
46
million left their
homes.
56% came to the U.S.
From 1880 to 1921,
more than 23 million
immigrants arrived in
America.
Few limits on
immigration.
Demographics of Immigrants after 1880
 Most
immigrants came
from Southern and Eastern
Europe:
 Italians,
Russians, Polish,
Slovaks, Bulgarians,
Hungarians, Greeks,
Armenians
 Young, male, spoke little or
no English, unskilled, little
money or education
Why Did They Leave Home?
•
•
•
Push 1: Lack of Work
• Farmers laid off local farm laborers as
their jobs could be performed more
cheaply and easily by machines.
• Craftspeople are unable to compete
with factory production and need new
employment.
Push 2: Rising Population
•
More people competing for fewer
resources like land, food and jobs.
Push 3: Political and Religious Persecution
• Jews in Russia
The Lure of America
Newspaper
articles,
and letters home
said America was
“magical” with lots
of opportunity and
riches.
The Lure of America
 Business
owners sent
representatives overseas
to recruit cheap labor.
 Steamship companies
were eager for
passengers.
 Both began to make
marketing flyers to paint
America as something it
was not “the streets are
paved with gold.”
Leaving the Homeland
 Most
families used up all
the money they had
getting to America.
 Steamship fare ran from
$65 to $100 per ticket.
 Some had to travel
hundreds of miles just to
get to the coast.
The Journey to America
 Immigrants
boarded
steamships carrying 2,000
people.
 Trip would take 8-14 days.
 Most immigrants traveled in
steerage compartments
(storage).
 Usually 1 toilet for every 50 1,000 people.
Living Conditions in Steerage
Diseases
spread on
ships (smallpox and
typhoid)
Very little food
Bed of “donkey’s
breakfast”
Very bad odor
Poor ventilation
Cabin Class
 By
the early 1900s,
some steamships
removed steerage
areas, and replaced
them with “cabin class”
 Vast improvement over
steerage
 Had cabins, or small
rooms, more toilets,
dining rooms, a lounge.
Pick a Section!
Talk
to your neighbor about
important ideas from today’s
lecture. Be ready to share
with the class!
Arrival in America
The
Statue of Liberty (lady liberty)
us your tired, your poor, your huddled
masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched
refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the
homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift up my
lamp beside the golden door.”
 “Give
ElIis
Island: immigrant processing center
Checked for contagious or life-threatening
diseases
 Cholera,
the plague, and typhoid
 1st class passengers were briefly questioned, and
then allowed into America
Steerage Class Inspections
Steerage Class faced very rigorous
inspection process.
 Each person was given a tag with a
number.
 The inspections were designed to weed
out immigrants they believed might
require public assistance (mentally ill
and the sick).
 Inspections usually took 45 minutes per
person, and were very intrusive

Steerage Class Inspections
After medical inspections, new
arrivals awaited an interrogation.
 Wait time for questioning could
be anywhere from 3 hours to one
day.
 Questions determined if the
immigrant was coming to
America “for a legitimate reason,
had a proper moral character,
and was unlikely to become a
ward of the state, or a violent
revolutionary”

Leaving Ellis Island
 Most
immigrants were allowed
entrance to the U.S.
 Only 2% were deported.
 After 1921 however, more and
more immigrants were
deported following stricter
immigration laws.
 After the Island
 Make
travel plans, go to RR
station, exchange $, mail letter
back home, and/or stay in NY
Talk
to your neighbor: What
was the typical immigrant’s
experience at Ellis island?
Ethnic Enclaves
 Most
immigrants settled
in urban areas
 New
York, Chicago,
Boston, Philadelphia
 Initially
stayed with
friends/relatives.
 Lived in ethnic
communities: provided
familiar customs, food,
language, etc.
Where did they live?
 Cities
were not ready to
handle the growing
population.
 Raw sewage (that’s right,
POOP!) overflowed into
streets.
 Housing was scarce.
 Some lived in makeshift
shanties built in
alleyways.
Tenement Buildings
 Those
lucky enough to
find housing lived in a
tenement building.
 6-7
floors
 Up to 1,231 people in a
120 room tenement (10
ppl/room)
 One
shared bathroom
per floor
Where did they work?
 Most
immigrants
worked industrial jobs.
 Provided lots of cheap
labor for business
owners.
 Most were unskilled or
semiskilled laborers,
and uneducated.
Working Conditions
 Families
typically needed
$16/week to survive,
many immigrants were
paid $4/week.
 Kids were paid
$1.25/week.
 Worked 12-16 hours a
day, 6 days/week
Improved Standard of Living
“Nowhere there is heaven, everywhere
misery, in America no good, but still
better than in the [old] country.”
American Nativism
 Nativism
is the preference for
native born Americans.
 Nativists believed that
immigrants threatened “the
American way of life.”
 Believed immigrants took
jobs away from “real”
Americans, and are invading
America.
Push for Immigrant Restrictions
Nativists lobbied to restrict
the number of immigrants
entering the U.S.
 Called for a literacy test for
all newcomers.
 In 1921 Congress passed
the Dillingham Bill: set
quotas for the number of
immigrants entering the U.S.
each year.

Pick a Section!
Talk
to your neighbor about
important ideas from today’s
lecture. Be ready to share
with the class!